PORT HARDY—Mike Sheehan brought his unique brand of experiential education to the North Island last week for a multi-day BeatBoard music camp, hosted by Sacred Wolf Friendship Centre at Port Hardy Secondary School.
Sheehan is a Victoria-based facilitator and public speaker who has shared the stage with the likes of David Suzuki, Stephan Rackefeller and Michelle Jean during his career.
But it was local youth in the spotlight last week as Sheehan introduced the group to the intricacies of drum machines, synthesizers, loopers and effects units in a series of high-energy workshops.
Over the three-day camp the group was introduced to the instruments and collaborated on creating a track, with each participant playing a role in all aspects of the song, from the beat to the bass line to the lyrics.
Friday’s final session saw the group lay down a vocal track over Thursday’s instrumental, experimenting with effects, pitch, emphasis, alliteration and even freestyle rapping.
Sheehan’s infectious enthusiasm and positivity was evident throughout as he guided the group through a series of exercises, capturing the results on both video and audio with the aim of producing a video of the edited track.
Davis Henderson of the Sacred Wolf Friendship Centre said that he had met Sheehan at a handful of conferences on the lower Island and was impressed with the facilitator.
“I’ve been trying to bring him up here for a year now,” said Henderson. “He was awesome, the kids really loved it.”
Sheehan will continue working on the group’s track from Victoria and is expected to upload the finished product to his website at www.beatboard.org.
On behalf of Sacred Wolf, Henderson expressed his thanks to the Clothes Inn, Cove Apparel, Julia and Brittany’s, The Source, Monk’s and Overwaitea for supporting the camp.